“Once again, a senseless tragedy on a university campus reminds us of the fragility of our time here. Our thoughts and prayers are with the students, faculty and staff at Northern Illinois University,” wrote President David Schmidly in his weekly address. The sentiments were sent via email to all students, staff and faculty Feb. 18.

“Life has irrevocably changed for them. I’ve sent NIU’s president a message expressing UNM’s condolences and support,” he said.
“What happened last week in Illinois reminds us again that we must continue to work at being prepared for emergencies on campus.”

The president has instructed UNM’s Chief of Police and members of the Emergency Operations Center to implement a campus-wide drill in the next few days.

“For your own understanding of the process and your peace of mind, I urge you to participate in the drill,” Schmidly said.

The president also urged students and employees to sign up for the TextMe campus-wide emergency notification system by visting http://my.unm.edu or the emergency notification system link on the homepage. Students have the option to sign up parents or other family for the service.

An evaluation of safety and emergency notification practices underway at UNM heightened in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Students, parents, faculty and staff have posed the difficult question: Is UNM ready to cope if the unthinkable happens here?

The university has its own police force, fire marshal and emergency manager. About 100 additional staff across campus train to respond during critical incidents, said Police Chief Kathy Guimond. A comprehensive emergency management plan governs campus. University officials work closely with local, state and federal agencies.

The very nature of colleges and universities – with significant student turnover each year – requires continuous training about campus safety. A FEMA-certified team of high-level staff conducts drills. They are on-call 24/7 to staff an Emergency Operation Center (EOC). An Emergency Management Committee meets and makes recommendations to acting President David Harris

“UNM has a real commitment to emergency preparedness,” Guimond said. “We conduct announced and unannounced drills, and we’ve had actual EOC activations.”

UNM uses repetitive forms of communication during an emergency, including the UNM e-mail alert, which goes to 40,000 across campus. Guimond says the university was able to quickly implement text messaging capabilities this week because it was in the process of purchasing a system. UNM contracted with e2Campus, which as the ability to send time-sensitive messages to students, faculty, staff and parents or other designates. Alerts can be sent to cell phones, e-mails, pagers and web pages. UNM subscribers will be allowed to enter up to two cell telephone numbers and two e-mail addresses.

Students can sign up at TextMe UNM.